September 2006

I have been suffering from low back pain which has not improved.  The only thing that I have been doing is taking an anti-inflammatory.  Is there anything else that I can do to get rid of my pain?

Medications are great to temporarily reduce initial pain but they do not fix the “why” of your pain.  Most pain in the lower back is caused by overuse of certain areas in the back.  Those areas start to wear down which causes the pain and/or muscle spasms and tightness.  If you do not change how you do things, the abuse on your back will continue and the irritation that is causing the pain will not lessen.  For example, if you hit your thumb with a hammer it would cause pain and swelling.  You could take medication to ease the pain and reduce the swelling, but if you continued to hit your thumb with the hammer it would continue to be painful and the swelling would not decrease.  Physical Therapy can teach patients how to decrease their pain and irritation through strengthening, stretching and movement training.  We have a very high success rate of helping people achieve their goal of becoming pain free.

Dennis McEntaffer, PT